The purpose of the present study was to find out which of the
two types of attributes of the marketing education program (at the
high school level), tangible or symbolic, have the greatest
influence on student interest in enrolling in the program. The
findings will help program planners to develop appealing and
workable promotional campaigns. In addition, the results of this
study will also assist in modifying existing aspects of the program
that will facilitate in attracting and retaining appropriate
students.

The methodology involved the usage of two models, the ideal
social self-image congruence model and the Bass-Talarzyk attitude
model. The first model was used to measure ideal social self-image
(the symbolic attributes), where the second one measured the
belief/importance variables (the tangible attributes).

The instrument used was a questionnaire which was mailed to
equal numbers of marketing education students and non-marketing
education students in Virginia. A preliminary study was also
conducted in which two focus group interviews took place utilizing
thirty high school students at two local high schools. The students
were asked to respond to questions regarding the tangible and
symbolic attributes of the marketing education program at their
schools.

Multiple regression procedures were used to analyze the data.
The findings showed that students are influenced more by the
tangible attributes and to a lesser, but significant degree, by the
symbolic attributes of the program in relation to their attitudes
toward the marketing education program. The non-marketing students
were influenced significantly by the symbolic attributes of the
program, where as the marketing students were not.

It is recommended that an effective promotional campaign be
designed which will emphasize the important tangible and symbolic
attributes of the program that were found in this study. In
addition, the "college-preparation" attribute of the program should
be emphasized in the campaign. The promotional campaign should be
aimed at the students, teachers, parents, and counselors. Also, the
important program attributes found in the study should be used to
redesign some aspects of the program, in order to achieve higher program quality.